How Indiana Veterans' Home quality compares

Feb. 18, 2012

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The quality of care at nursing homes is measured by the number and type of health standard deficiencies found during periodic state health department surveys.

Deficiencies are accorded points, with more points given to those of a more serious nature and the potential to harm more residents. The higher the score, the lower the quality of care.

There are a number of ranking systems. By any of them, Indiana Veterans' Home comes out near the bottom when compared with other veterans homes, and other Indiana nursing homes.

Here's a look at three ranking systems:

Gannett

The Gannett News Service, an affiliate of the Journal & Courier, uses a scoring matrix similar to the state's scoring method.

Applying the Gannett scoring matrix to the three most recent annual surveys, including the 2012 survey, the Journal & Courier computed an average deficiency score of 79.3 points for Indiana Veterans' Home.

The deficiency score was higher than all but seven of 80 U.S. veterans homes, according to a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services database. That means the Indiana home ranked 73rd out of 80 in terms of quality.

Looking at all Indiana nursing facilities, Indiana Veterans' Home ranked 450th out of 496 in terms of quality as measured by deficiencies found.

Indiana State Department of Health

Indiana Veterans' Home's current score is 370 points out of 848 possible points. That's the highest point total of any of the county's nine listed long-term care facilities and more than double the statewide average score 165.

That score does not include the most recent survey. Because the state's scoring system gives more weight to recent deficiencies, it's likely the home's score on the state website will go down some once the latest deficiencies are posted.

CMS

The federal CMS Nursing Home Compare website assigns one to five stars based on deficiency scores and staffing levels, with one star being lowest quality.

In 2009, the website gave the veterans home a one-star rating for quality of care, as measured by deficiencies found, and four stars out of five with respect to its staff-to-resident ratio.

The home's star rating is not currently listed on the website because the facility changed status from a Medicaid-only facility to a Medicaid/Medicare facility in 2011, officials said.